Record at Madison Square Garden in August 2008,
Hot August Night NYC finds
Neil Diamond performing an extensive, even exhaustive, collection of 28 songs in front of a capacity crowd. There are a few songs from his
Rick Rubin-shepherded 2000s comeback but this, like the other
Hot August Nights before it, is hits-heavy and crowd-pleasing -- and if
Neil doesn't quite have the energy or voice that he did in the '70s, he still knows how to work an audience and leave them satisfied. As a bonus to the DVD,
Hot August Night contains a CD of "10 Favorites," which winds up being a motley mix of original hits that emphasize his late-'70s singles and re-recordings of "Sweet Caroline" and "Play Me." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine